ABOUT

Where we live in South West France is very beautiful and is the inspiration for many things in our lives and especially our work. In the 19th century the property was a prosperous vineyard but over the years the land has been sold to neighbouring families and we now have 5 acres of fairly unruly ‘gardens’ and a little orchard. Although the house dates from the mid 1800’s the site itself dates from centuries earlier and according to a couple of local historians, apparently had some religious connections back in medieval times. There are a number of very large outbuildings one of which contains our boutique ‘Galerie de la Maison’, where we sell beautiful fabrics, interior accessories and lots of girlie things like bags and vintage jewellery. In another barn we have made our vintage tearoom. It is also from our home that we run our fairly new business producing beautiful greeting cards as The Art Card Press.

Our little family consists of three humans, myself, himself and my mother, two wonderful canine friends, two bewildering feline friends and various occasional visitors, the kestrels who nest in the pigeonnier, the barn owl who does the same in the barn, a couple of frogs in the pond and the deer who roam the surrounding woods and countryside.

The customers who find their way to our boutique and tearoom are generally a delightful and varied bunch of people, often spanning the generations, who enjoy the peace and tranquility of our little world and enjoy browsing the goodies we present for their enjoyment. We encourage everyone who comes here to take their time and enjoy the atmosphere, it is something rare and beautiful and it’s good to share………………

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Jane, your world is a fairy tale–and I’ve give my left lung to apparate and appear on your front door stoop–especially if you still have that gorgeous knocker on the door.
I’m sure there must be an enormous amount of work to keep your cosmos in balance, but it’s clear you have the talent and skills to make it thus.
I truly look forward to reading about, and especially SEEING your adventures as they unfold. Your photography is stunning and your prose, delightful.
I wish you great success with this beautiful blog. Congratulations on its launch!

Jane, An incredibly artistic and beautiful blog you have. I could find my self very comfortable in your virtual gallery. Hope you don’t mind if I linger a bit. I appreciate, very much, your visit to Willy Nilly (my silly pet dragon) and I and inviting us to visit you as well.

Dear Willy Nilly, How lovely to find your kind message on my blog this morning – I’m delighted that you have visited me and that your pet dragon came too. Thankyou for the ‘follow’ , I’m thrilled to have your support. as I was so enchanted by your own blog which I discovered last night by following a trail of threads through several other blogs. I will be visiting you often… ……. best wishes.Jane

What a delightful description of your little piece of heaven! I absolutely love your blog and will tell my friends about it. I am so glad we have people like you in my beloved Sud Ouest 😉 Your photography is absolutely stunning as well… You truly live the kind of life That I like to promote in my little blog and I believe people like you are playing a very important role in this crazy world of ours: helping people dream…

Dear French Heaven , I’m really touched by your lovely message! I think we are both trying to do the same thing in encouraging people to focus on the good,simple things in life and forget about the crazy stuff for a brief moment. I shall return your ‘follow’ – I don’t do this a s a matter of course but I figure I could use the cookery lessons!! Very best wishes – Jane

Thankyou French Heaven! I wonder whereabouts you are in South West France? It’s a huge country, I know only too well but if you are ever in the vicinity of Angoulême/Cognac, let me know – I’ll bake you one of my famous Victoria sponges and invite you to tea!

Many thanks Melanie! I’m just having a look at you!! One of my favourite ever plays is Cyrano de Bergerac, but haven’t yet had the pleasure of visiting his home.. I think I shall just have to follow you to get some insights! Bonsoir et bien à vous! Cheers Jane 🙂

I found your blog through Blogging 201 and am glad I did! Your blog is lovely, and just the look of those macaroons is enough to make me a new follower. :- Do feel warmly invited to visit mine. Maybe you’ll find it interesting enough to follow it back. 🙂

try Larousse for a good French version ! 🙂 Just visited you and your tall slant on life. Sisters in law are both over 6 feet and Mr H at least a foot taller than I am so I am so tall people feature late in my life, forgive the pun 🙂 Liked your piece on Yuri Dombrovsky, sadly unknown to me. Have returned your follow, I’ll look out for you on Blogging 201 🙂

Thankyou so much Stuart! 🙂 Confess it seems strange to celebrate a birthday without Mum but it is a truly beautiful day here and I shall certainly make the most of it – and the nice bottle of St Emillion awaiting our dinner 🙂

I love the way you have described where you live. It sounds so wonderful and love the pictures of your pets. If I do come to France would surely love to visit you. I am charmed that you have a fabric shop , your home is very beautiful 🙂

Thankyou Chan! It is a bezautiful place, very quiet and tranquil. But it’s also good to have the visitors to my shop, I also sell vintage jewellery and scarves and perfume, lots of lovely girlie things!

HI Cosme , I just sat down to my computer and found your link and your lovely comments about my blog and thank you, I will accept the challenge, it will be fun to do! I might have to start tomorrow though!

Hi, I know this is going to be vague, but I would love to talk to you about showcasing you and your work. Would you mind sending me an email leanne@leannecole.com.au
please feel free to delete this comment.

Jane, I found my way over from Kaz’s most recent blog post and I am just delighted with all I have seen here. What a wonderful photographic eye you have. I can’t wait to spend some real time browsing some more. I have happily clicked the “follow” button :).

Andrew I’m really touched by your kind comments, Thank you! Leanne has done an amazing job and I’m delighted that you’ve found me via her blog, I shall hope to have lots of interesting images to share over the coming weeks, months… 🙂

Absolutely love your work Jane! There is a mellow, warm, nostalgic feel to it. I have to say it makes me homesick as I was born in France and spent my adolescence there, before migrating to Australia! I am so glad Leanne Cole introduced you, allowing me to reconnect with beautiful SW France. Chris

Thankyou so much Chris! I’m so glad you like my images, I suppose you’re right about the nostalgic bit, I do love vintage things and there is still a wonderful old-fashioned side to parts of life here! Whereabouts in France were you born?

We’re in the Charente near Angoulême, each region is so very different, my father-in-law used to live near the Pyrenees, don’t know Normandy apart from travelling through – it is a big country, though rather different from Australia I imagine!

Hi Saxon, how strange you should have written that so recently! Just left you a comment on the post, it’s an interesting question and I’m actually doing a project around that very theme – we’ll have more discussions about it I’m sure! Best wishes Jane

If I ever make my way to the South of France a stop to see your wonderful home and tea room will have to be on the list! You must be surrounded by inspiration all the time. Best wishes in all of your endeavors!!

PS Thank you Miles for the follow – there are not many people or street style photos on my blog although portraiture is a passion for me and I do have some on my other photo site http://www.janemorley.photography

Thank you Lori! The most fascinating thing about blogging I think is glimpsing someone else’s world for a few minutes, so I’m delighted your enjoyed your glimpse of the hillside here and look forward to seeing you again soon!

I’ve been back to blogging for a couple of weeks and was so happy to find this new WordPress theme. I then noticed that you’ve decided to use the same one and boy does it fit your wonderful photography! I hope you are well. I will now continue reading and marvel at your incredible images. You are so so talented. Very inspiring indeed (in many many ways). I hope that 2016 is the year we finally get to meet :0)

Hello Stephane – nice to hear from you! I’ve not been so active on WordPress either of late and almost decided to stop but found this theme and it is a good one isn’t it! Must pop over to yours for a look! Hope you are well and your new projects thriving. Is the weather as bad in Saint Emillion as it is here ? Looking forward to seeing the sun ! Yes maybe this will be the year to meeting person! Off to visit you! 🙂 🙂

To Prepare:
Preheat oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit. Grease 13×9 inch glass baking dish. Whisk milk, eggs, sugar, vanilla, salt, cinnamon and freshly grated nutmeg to taste in large bowl until well blended. Add flour and whisk until batter is smooth. In a sauté pan melt butter over medium heat, add a little apple brandy and apple slices. Cook until apples soften and butter is bubbling and begins to brown a little – 5 to 10 minutes depending on your stove. Once that is cooked, but not mushy, pour apple slices into an even layer in 13×9 inch greased glass baking dish. Pour batter over the even layer of apples and sprinkle with brown sugar and top with pecans. Bake for 20 minutes until puffed and golden. Sprinkle with powdered sugar and serve warm.